Leather-dressing machine



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1;.

G. V. ANDERSON.

LEATHER DEBS SING MACHINE. 170.877,.473. V Patented Feb. 7, 1888 Wihz ai'se flInrentor ,8 7% By A W PETERS. Photwlilhographn Wahlnflom o. a

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G. V. ANDERSON. LEATHER DRESSING MACHINE.

No. 377,473. Patented Feb. 7, 1888.

Wl nsse InVn/tor 9 flit-arm M1 (No Mod l.) 3 Sheets-Sheet a.

G. V. ANDERSON. LEATHER DRESSING MACHINE.

Patented Feb. '7, 1888.

II II UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE v. ANDERSON, or WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.

LEATHER-DRESSING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 377,473, dated February 7, 1888.

Application filed January 18, 1887. Serial No. 224.055. (No model.) I

with racks I), secured to the under side of the To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE V. ANDERSON, of Wilmington, in the county of New Castle and State of Delaware, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Leather-Dressing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This machine is primarily designed for buffing or shaving leather; and it comprises a reciprocating feeding table or bed upon which the leather to be dressed is placed and a r0- tating dressing or buffing roller mounted in a. movable frame, so that the roller may be either in or out of contact with the leather on the feed-table. In connection with the buffingroller and mounted in the same movable frame isastretching orsmoothingroller for smoothing out the leather just before it is acted upon by the buffing-roller, and between the buffing and smoothing rollers is located a presser-bar, also carried by the movable frame, which prevents the leather from curling up' on either roller.

.The smoothing of the leather is accomplished by the formation of the surface of'the smoothing-roller, and the buffing-roller has its roughened surface so laid out as to bu'ff the leather ism for automatically raising and lowering the movable frame, so that the rollers will be in contact with the leather when the bed feeds it forward to the rollers and fox-raising the rollers away from the leather when the bed moves backward.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side'view of the machine. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof; Fig. 3, a longitudinal section; Figs. 4 and 5, views of parts in detail.

A is the main framework, of any suitable construction to support the operating mechanism, and B is the traveling feeding table or bed, which is supported by and slides upon suitable ways formed in the main frame.

0 is the main driveshaft, preferably located above the traveling bed.

D is a cross-shaft located beneath the bed, which carries two pinions, a a, which mesh bed. This shaft D is alternately rotated in opposite directions, so as to reciprocate the traveling bed. To this end it carries on one end a fixed pulley, E, and two loose pulleys, F F, on either side of the fixed pulley. Gonnecting these pulleys to a single pulley, G, on the main shaft are two belts, H H one of which, H is a crossed belt. These belts are arranged to be shifted from side to side, so that first one and then the other runs over the fixed pulley E, the other belt notin operation running then over loose pulley F or'F as the case may be. The motion transmitted to shaft D by the crossed belt H will be opposite to that transmitted by the belt H. The shifting of these belts is automatically effected by the traveling bed when it reaches the limit of its movement in opposite directions.

I is a short bar suitably mount-ed near and crosswise of the pulleys E F F, so as to have a limited sliding movement. This bar carries two oppositely-extending arms, 0" 0, having eyes (Z (Z on their outer ends, through which the belts HVH", respectively, pass. The extent of the movement of this bar I is sufficient to shift the belts.

J is a bell-crank lever pivoted to a suitable bracket, one end of which is connected by a slotted eye, 0, to the outer end of bar I. The other end of the bell-crank lever has an upwardly-extending tappetarm, f, close to the side of the traveling bed. Projecting from the side of the traveling bed, at proper distance apart, are two stops, 9 g, which alternately encounter the tappet-arm f. These stops, alternately engaging the arm f, swing the bellcrank lever firstin one direction and then in the other, thus sliding bar I, shifting the belts, and reversing the movement of the bed.

K is the movable frame. This frame is composed of two side bars, h'h, connected together by cross-bar 1', each of which is loosely hung at one end upon the main shaft 0, so that the movement of the frame is concentric with the shaft. Between the side bars, h h, at the lower end of the frame, is jou'rnaled the rotating dressing or buffing roller L. This roller is driven from the main drive-shaft by a band, j, passing over band-pulleys 7c Z on the driveshaft and roller-shaft, respectively, the relative size,of the pulleys 7c Zdetermining the speed of roller L. Two sets of pulleys k Z and bands j at opposite ends of the shaft 0 and roller L may be used to drive the roller.

\Vhen a skin or piece of leather is to be dressed, it is placed upon the traveling bed, which feeds it to the buffing-ro ler. The direction'of the bed when feeding the leather is that indicated by arrow 1,which is considered its forward movement. The direction of the rotation of the main drive-shaft and buffingroller is indicated by arrow 2. In order that the buffing-roller may be held at the proper distance above the bed to buff the leather, and that it may be vertically adjusted to suit different thicknesses of leather, the lower end of the frame K is supported by rollers m m,which rest (during the process of buffing) upon the upper surface of the traveling bed. Each roller m is j ournaled in a bracket, 10., having a screw-threaded rod, 0,which extends through one of the side bars, h, and is adj ustably secured thereto by a nut, 11, retained in a slot, q, in the bar 72. When the movement of the traveling bed is reversed, and during its backward movement, it is essential that the leather should not be acted upon by the buffing-roller. To prevent this, the frame K is automatically raised during the reverse movement of'the bed and is again automatically lowered, so as to bring the buffing-roller into operative position when the movement of the bed is again changed to feed forward. Near the lower end of the frame K, on the outer side of each bar h, is pivoted a frame, M, in which is journaled a smaller roller, 1'. The swinging of the frame M on its pivot is limited by a stop, 8, located on the bar It between the frame M and the drive-shaft. The frame M can be swung away from this stop until it is, say, parallel with the bar hf but when in contact with the stop it is almost vertical, inclining slightly toward the drive-shaft end of the machine. lVhen the frame is in a vertical position, which its weight would normally cause it to assume, the roller r is still above the surface of the traveling bed, which it never touches. The roller 1* on each side co-operates with an upwardly-projecting way or track, N, secured on the side of the :traveling bed. This track at either end inclines until it reaches the level of the bed, the incline t at the rear end being more abrupt than the incline a at the front end. The location of the track N on the traveling bed is such that when the bed is just commencing its forward movement the frame M hangs vertically just beyond the end of the steep incline 25. As the bed moves forward, the incline t encounters the roller r, swinging the frame M upward on its pivot in the direction indicated by arrow 3. During the forward movement of the bed the frame K is thus supported by rollers m m, the rollers r r riding idly 0n the tracks N. When the bed reaches its extreme forward limit, each roller 0- has passed beyond the gradual incline a of its track, and again each frame M hangs vertically. On the reverse or backward move ment of the bed the gradual incline a encounters the roller 1', exerting a force to swing frame M in a direction opposite to that indi-' cated by arrow 3. Movement of the frame in that direction is, however, prevented by stop 8. Consequently during the reverse movements of the bed the roller r rides on the track with the frame M in a nearly-vertical position.

The result is (since the height of the track is greater than the vertical distance between the tracks of the rollers m and 1") that the lower end of the frame K is elevated and the buffing-roller is raised from the surface of the leather on the bed. In order that there may be opportunity while the bed is reversing from its forward to its backward movement to remove a finished skin or piece of leather and substitute an undressed one, and at the same time in order to prevent the sudden descent of the buffing-roller, owing to the rollersrr running down the steep incline t,-short auxiliary elevated tracks 0 O are formed on the bed near its extreme rear end, cooperating with the rollers m 'm. These tracks have gradual inclines o descending to the plane of the surface of the bed. The relation of the tracks 0 O to the tracks N Nis such that as the rollers r 9' run down the steep inclines t t of tracks N N the rollers m m are lowered into contact with the horizontal portion of tracks 0 0, thus still holding the buffing -roller above the leather on the bed. The rollers m m remain on the tracks 0 during the reversal of the bed,

and as the bed advances on its forward move ment they run down the gradual inclines o 1;,

thus bringing the buffing-roller gradually into contact with the leather to be buffed.

The buffingroller L has a roughened surface, preferably asurface covered with emery. The roller itself may be of any material, and its outer surface, upon which the emery is placed, may also be of any desirable or suitable material. The emery is, however, placed upon surfaces or ridges raised above the normal surface of the roller, and these raised surfaces or ridges are disposed in a particular manner. The ridges are of two kinds-first, broad bands 10 w, arranged in pairs, extending in spirals of slight curvature from the center of the roller to its outer margins, the bands of each pair meeting at an apex in the center, and the several pairs of bands being arranged parallel with each. other at a distance apart about equal to the width of the bands, and, second, short narrow hands a: w incline outward at an angle to a plane perpendicular to the axis of the roller L, and the inclination decreases from the center to the outer margin of the roller. This disposition of the bands assists in keeping the skin in the proper position on the bed, it renders the buffing more perfect, and the spiral and inclined arrangement of the bands carries off any particles of leather or leather-dust to the edges of theroller,

thus preventing the clogging of the roller and uneven work.

In addition to the buffing-roller a spread ing or smoothing roller, P, is employed,which acts upon the skin before it is brought in contact with the buffingroller. This roller is mounted in bearings supported by the movable frame K, so that its working-surface may be in the same plane withthat of the battingroller, and so that it may be raised and low ered therewith.

The roller is mounted directly in bars y y, hung from the axis of the buffing-roller, the outer lower ends of the bars 3 y being supported by arms 2 z, attached to the cross-bar t. The roller 1? is driven from the main shaft 0 by band a. To the periph cry of this roller are secured raised bands I) b", disposed in spirals, the bands being preferabl y made of elastic material-such as lent-h erthough not necessarily so. These spiral bands are arranged in pairs, meeting at the center and curving outward. Each band extends several times around the periphery ofthe roller before terminating at the end of the roller. The action of this roller is to spread the skin sidewise, smoothing out any wrinkles therein, so that the skin is presented in the bestpossible shape to the buffing-roller. The spirals on both the buffing and smoothing rollers extend in the same direction opposite to the direction of rotation, so that the apeXes of the spirals first encounter the leather.

In machines of this class the rotation of the buffing-roller tends to cause the leather on the bed to curl up on the rolleror to be lifted from the bed on the side next the smoothingroller. This is prevented by what is called a presser blade or bar. This presser-bar Q is supported from the bars 1 3 by short arms 0 0, so that it is located between the rollers L and P,with its lower surface just above the surface of the skin. In case the skin is raised upward, it is pressed upon by the bar Q, which holds it down in place.

In using the machine it is customary to place theskin so that the buffing'roller will first strike the skin at the center, so that one-half of the skin is dressed by each complete reciprocation of the bed.-

Although the machine has been described more particularly with reference to buffing leather, it can equally well be used for other finishing purposes, such as polishing, graining, &c. I i

I claim as my invention 1. In a leather-dressing machine,a traveling bed upon whichthe material to be dressed is placed, in combination with a vertically-movable frame located above said bed, supportingrollers vertically adjustably mounted on said frame, which rest upon said bed, a rotating dressing-roller mounted in said frame, which constantly rotates in the same direction, and means for rotating said roller, substantially as v set forth,,whereby said movable frame may be 2. In a leather-dressing machine, a reciproeating bed upon which the material to be dressed is placed and a dressing-roller which constantly rotates in the same direction, in combination with a vertically-movable frame in which said roller is mounted, which frame is automatically lowered when the bed feeds forward the leather to the dressing-roller and is automatically raised. during the reverse movement of the bed, and mechanism for antomatically raising and lowering said frame.

3. In a leather-dressing machine, a reciproeating bed 'upon' which the material to be dressed is placed and a driving shaft located above said bed and constantly rotating in one direction, in combination with a movable frame pivotally hung at its upper end upon said shaft and supporting-rollers carried by said frame at its lower end, which rest upon said bed, a rotating dressing-roller mounted in said frame, and mechanism intermediate between said shaft and dressing-roller for imparting rotary motion to the dressing roller.

4. Ina leather-dressing machine, a reciprocating feeding-bed upon which the material to be dressed is placed, in con'ibination with a rotating dressingroller and a rotating spreading or smoothing roller in advance of said dressing-roller, and mechanism for rotating said rollers, whereby each roller rotatesconstantly in the same direction irrespective of the movement of the bed.

5. In a leather-dressing machine, a reciprocating feedingbed and a movable frame, in.

combination with a rotating dressing-roller mounted in said frame and a rotating spreading or smoothing roller, also mounted in said frame in advance of the dressing-roller, and mechanism for rotating said rollers, whereby each roller rotates constantly in the same direction irrespective of the movement of the bed.

6. In a leather-dressing machine,a traveling bed and a rotating dressing-roller mounted above the same, in combination with apresserbar located abovev the bed and alongside the dressing-roller, beneath which presser-bar the leather is fed before it reaches the dressingroller, substantially as set forth, whereby the leather is prevented from curling up on the dressingroller or from being lifted from the bed.

7. A dressing-roller and a spreading or smoothing roller located in advance of said dressing-roller, in combination with a presser bur located between said rollers.

8. A reciprocating feeding-bed and a vertically-movable frame which is lowered when the bed feeds forward theleather and is raised during the backward movement thereof, in combination with adressing-roller, smoothingroller, and presser-bar, all mounted on said movable frame, substantially as set forth.

9. A. buffingroller having raised bands on its surface covered with emery, said bands consisting of broad spiral bands arranged in parallel pairs, each pair meeting in the center and extending toward the margin of the roller in opposite directions, and of short narrow bands connected with each pair of broad bands, the narrow bands extending in a direction diverging from the center of the roller partly across the spaces between adjacent broad bands, substantially as set forth.

10. In aleatherdressing machine, the recip rocating bed, the movable dressing-roller-carrying frame, and the small rollers resting on the bed and supporting the frame during the advance of the bed, in combination with tracks carried by the bed, swinging frames carried by said movable frame, rollers mounted in said swinging frames, which co-operate with said tracks, and stops upon the movable frame, which limit the motion of the swinging frames, substantially as set forth.

11. In a leather-dressingmachine, the reciprocating bed B, tracks N N thereon, having opposite inclines t u, in combination with frame K, supporting rollers m m, swinging frames M M on said frame K, rollers r 1' on said swinging frames, and stops 8 s on said frame K, substantially as set forth.

12. In aleather-dressing machine, the reciprocating bed having short tracks 0 O at its rear end, in combination with frame K, having rollers m m, which ride on said tracks 0 O.

13. In a leather-dressing machine, the bed 13 and tracks N N and O O thereon, in combination with frame K, having rollers m m and 1' 'r.

14. In a leather-dressing machine, the reciprocating bed having racks on its under side, the main drive-shaftabove the bed, and a crossshaft beneath the bed having pinions which the main drive shaft, a cross-shaft beneath the bed having pinions which engage said racks,

fast and loose pulleys on said cross-shaft, and oppositelytraveling belts connecting said pulleys to said main drive-shaft, in combination with a sliding bar on a fixed part of the machine, said bar having arms 0 0, having eyes d (I, through which said traveling belts pass, stops carried by said reciprocating bed, and a bell-crank lever, one end of which is alternately moved in opposite directions by successive contact with said stops, the other end being connected to said sliding bar, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

G EORGE V. ANDERS ON. 

